Races
Drays - the Unbroken Average lifespan: '''40 years '''Reproductive cycle: 1 year Average height & weight: 1.60 m, 60 kg Personality: friendly, hard-working, simple The Drays are a race of short, fair-haired and cheerful people, once slaves to the Pankin, now free farmers, ranchers and craftsmen. After centuries of serving the higher men, they have gained freedom through the bloody battles at the Rolling Fields, when armies of pitchfork, scythe and spit-armed drays, led by great heroes defeated the heavily armoured infantry and cavalry of their opressors. Even to this day, dray spearmen are known across their continent of Aptis, if not the entire Luxia. Generations of oppression have cultivated a culture of gift-giving and altruism. A proper dray feels it is his duty to help out anyone in need. Receiving help is also returned with great gratitude. Attributes: *+1 AGL - the drays are small and nimble, giving them advantage in tasks that require speed and subtlety. *+1 WLL - years of opression have created a dray culture of earnest, hard working. A dray rarely gives up, facing daunting tasks with unfaltering optimism. *-1 STR - the delicate nature of the drays leaves them shorthanded in tasks that require pure physical force. Traits: : A dray character may select one of these traits for free: Legerdemain, Featherfoot, Acrobatic, Escape Artist. Fjallid - Men of the Wilderness Average lifespan: '''50 years '''Reproductive cycle: 2 years Average height & weight: 1.70 m, 75 kg Personality: calm, brave, traditional The Fjallid originate from the northern wilds of Aptis. They live in tribes between vast woods and mountaintops where no civilized man has set foot and hunt in rolling grasslands and dry savannahs. They are renowned hunters and brave warriors. No one is sure where did the Fjallid originate, and the gradual change of climate, famines and draughts cause them to change location fairly often. Migrating Fjallid are sometimes a problem for the Commonwealth, as the travelling people claim the Commonwealth's northern parts to them. Attributes: *+1 WIL - living without excessive comfort makes a fjallid tougher than the average person. Their determination to carve out a life in the harshest of conditions is known throughout the world. Traits: : A fjallid character may select one of the following traits for free: Animal Bond, Bold, Longstrider (1/2 cost), Outdoorsman, Steady. Pankin - the Noble Average lifespan: '''50 years '''Reproductive cycle: 1 year Average height & weight: 1.70 m, 65 kg Personality: proud, intellectual, creative The Pankin, colloquially named the "Great Men', are a race of tall, graceful and fair-featured people. The Commonwealth, a conglomerate of pankin people, is the only known political structure in Luxia that employs a primitive version of democracy, where each official, census-approved inhabitant of a city state has a vote in the decision of internal and international affairs. Although some Pankin lead independent domains or live vagabond lives alongside nomads, most of them are settled in the Commonwealth. It is primarily a pacifist and technocratic (and thus technologically advanced) mega-state situatated in the center of the Aptis continent, surrounded by independent dray and pankin kingdoms, with the barbaric tribes occupying the mountains and plains to the north. Pankin are foremost intellectual, with a developed educational system comprising schools and universities. However, both education and voting rights are only available to people with considerable wealth, and thus many lower-class pankin spend their lives working as craftsmen, farmers and hirelings. Nevertheless, the greatest scientific achievements of Luxia are made by pankins. A scientific bias leaves magic and religion viewed as superstitious by the higher classes; middle and lower class pankins are, howerver, religious. Attributes: *INT +1 - the pankin are considerably more educated than any other people - disregarding the ones that live outside of civilization. Traits: : A pankin character may select one of these traits for free: Alluring, Creative, Clear-minded, Focused, Investigator. Kalchuk - the Fierce Average lifespan: '''40 years '''Reproductive cycle: 4 years Average height & weight: 1.90 m, 85 kg Personality: honorable, short-tempered, stubborn The Kalchuk are a race of stout people, settled primarily in the island-peninsula of Dryx. These hairless, dark-skinned people are known for their ferocious temper, but strong sense of loyalty and honor. The Kalchuk have complexions ranging from pitch black to brick red, and they appear to be completely hairless. Males harness two pairs of enlarged canines, which can grown to the length of a dagger if left unchecked. Doing so is what the outcast or criminal Kalchuk prefer to do, as the civilized people usually trim them to appear more human-like. Kalchuk females have a slow reproductive cycle and produce a litter of several babies. Sadly, only the occasional female survives childbirth, and these survivors are viewed with great respect in the kalchuk society, often with no distinguishment between men and women in terms of rights. The Dryx kingdoms are the biggest political conglomerate that still uses slaves. The slave trade is well established in the island, bartering slaves from all corners of the world. Attributes: *+1 STR - the average kalchuk towers over a person of any other race, and their menacing muscles present no doubt of their physical prowess. *+1 CON - kalchuks are a particulary large people, and the competitive nature of their societies leaves only the fittest to survive. *-1 INT - kalchuk usually prefer the most straightforward and simple way to solve a problem, considering intellectual ponderings a sign of indecision and weakness. Traits: : A kalchuk character may select one of the following traits for free: Blade Runner, Bold, Hardy (1/2 cost), Intimidating, Longstrider (1/2 Cost). Urber - the Elders Average lifespan: '''unknown, possibly immortal '''Reproductive cycle: 12 years, ritualistic Average height & weight: 1.65 m, 75 kg Personality: mysterious, wise, withdrawn The Urber are presumably the oldest race of Luxia. Once masters of the world, now they are reduced to a handful of secret societies scattered in the most remote and desolate locations, with the few urbers that managed to integrate themselves into the society hiding their ancestry. The Urber were the first to learn the secrets of the mysterious Manadust - a mutagenic powder, that, when infused with magic can create and shape life. Legend tells that thousands of years ago, urber harnessed the Manadust to create the major races of Luxia, for the purpose of having slaves fitted to do their bidding. This theory is contested by modern scholars, as there are no records of such practice that survived to the present day. However, the time of their rule has passed long ago, and now the great empire of the Urber is lost, with crumbling stones being the only reminders of a lost power. The reasons for the fall of the urber are a mystery. Those urber that live in their own underground societies pursue a highly ritualistic lifestyle. Exposure to Manadust and other hazardous substances leaves many people diseased, and deformed babies are sacrificed to prevent the spread of mutation. Physically, the urber are hardly distinguishable from any other humanoid, with soft, stout bodies and abundant bodily hair, dark, small eyes and pale skin. Those secluded from conventional society adorn their bodies with piercings, scars and tattoos, or use mutagens to change the coloration of their skin. Attributes: *+1 INT - the urber are long lived and occasionally educated, and posess a sharp intellect. *+1 CON - generations of people exposed to mutagens have made the urber both physically hardy and resistant to poisons and diseases.